CLUB NEWS
"Welcome to Smoky Hill Rotary Club ...
the best place to be at noon on Monday!
Smoky Hill Rotary Club … serving the City of Aurora and the World!"
2018-19 President & PDG Talee Crowe
SMOKY HILL ROTARY'S
9th ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT … Friday, August 2nd! Golf Committee Chair PP Gary Frisch reminded us of the date so everyone needs to start getting those sponsorships and golfers lined up! The tournament is much easier to manage if last minute registrations are avoided. Gary also said the Day of Event sign up list will be available by the end of June so start thinking about how you plan to participate! The next golf committee meeting is next week, Tuesday, June 11th beginning at 5:30PM at PP Mark Johnson's home.
THE "BLUE BADGE" IS BESTOWED UPON JACQUIE GALLO!! With President Talee Crowe presiding, Membership Chair PP Jeff Kaes conferring and Mentor PP Betsy Jansen witnessing, the infamous BLUE BADGE was awarded to Jacquie Gallo! You become a member of Rotary when you receive the Red Badge so Jeff believes you go from 100% membership to 101% membership when you receive the Blue Badge. Jacquie has met just about everyone in the club and everyone looks forward to getting to know Jacquie better. Jacquie said "thanks for accepting me"! It is not hard to accept anyone of Jacquie's character into Rotary. Jacquie was the Greeter Extraordinaire today! After everyone was seated for lunch, Jacquie jumped up from her seat to run over and greet late arriving (12:25PM) April Rasmussen! How many greeters have you seen do that?!? Congratulations Jacquie and welcome again to Smoky Hill Rotary!
SMOKY HILL ROTARVARIETY OF NEWS …
International Chair PP Bev Edwards said they will have a good idea where they are with respect to the additional fund raising ($19,000 VAT) needed for the Beius Romania urology equipment project by July. The trip to Romania is now projected to occur in October or November of this year. Smoky Hill Rotary also participated to the extent of $3,000 in the Bulgaria medical equipment project and dedication of that equipment is planned for September 10-12, 2019. If you are interested in making that trip, the flight (Denver to Frankfurt to Bulgaria) is about $1,500 and nice hotels are about $65 per night. It will be a 7-8 day trip. See Bev if you have any interest or questions.
The club's annual Installation Dinner will be held on Saturday, June 22nd at Heritage Club Eagle Bend! Please Note: No lunch meeting on Monday, June 24th following the Installation Dinner. The Joint Board Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 27 at Talee's home. PE Hugh Radke will present the 2019-20 budget.
The 2018-19 Kevin Farrell Leadership Award Recipient PP Craig Essex announced the 2019 RYLA and YRLYA slots have all been filled and the leader of the Rotaract Club is an applicant for a Rotary Peace Scholarship.
The MS 100 Bike Ride is blessed to have PP Jeff Kaes participate in the event for the past 29 years and Jeff is blessed not to have any direct connections to Multiple Sclerosis or reason to ride other than his loyal support to the cause! Last year Jeff raised over $7,000 and is ranked as the 50th highest fundraiser! Awesome! As always, Jeff "appreciates your support and friendship!"
We were honored to have one of the first women to become a member of Smoky Hill Rotary Club, Kathlynne Smith, to visit us this week! Who knew that Kathlynne brought PDG/PP/President Talee Crowe into Rotary?!?. Since Talee is a cradle Rotarian did Kathlynne adopt her as a baby? She also brought PP Lloyd Gottman into Rotary and she recognized a few other members! Then Kathlynne briefly shared her journey over the past 30 something years but it is not in print since the Editarian's writing hand froze up after hearing the stunning revelation there were women in Rotary before Talee.
Another stunning revelation this week - we have a Soup Nazi in our presence. PP Craig Essex described how good the cream of mushroom soup was this week to PP Denny Passantino. Unfortunately, it reminded Denny of the not so good can of cream of celery soup he consumed at home last week. Remember the Soup Nazi, Yev Kassem, from the Seinfeld TV series? Yev maintained a very, very strict manner of behavior in his Soup Kitchen and you were punished if you did not follow protocol. Denny's wife, Mary, must have been trained in the Kassem Soup Nazi camp - she quickly noticed the only can of cream of celery soup missing from the cabinet and ordered Denny to go to the store and replace it! Sure is easy to understand why Denny had a salad instead of soup this week. No Soup for You!
THIS WEEK'S THOUGHT … "Let your compassion be wide enough to hold the hearts of those whose experiences and struggles are unfamiliar to you.” - Norm Hoffman
THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM
Stacia Sellers has been the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT's) Interstate 70 Communications Manager for the past three years. Stacia covered the Central 70 Project which runs from I-25 on the West to Chambers Road on the East. In summary, the Project will restripe I-70 from I-25 to Brighton Blvd, perform complete reconstruction of I-70 between Brighton Blvd and I-270, and widen I-70 from I-270 to Chambers Road. The 55-year-old viaduct will be removed and the interstate will be lowered 40 feet. A new 4 acre park will be constructed over a portion of the lowered interstate. The viaduct is Colorado's second largest bridge, is at the end of its useful life and is the last of 33 worst bridges in the state to be addressed. The growth in Colorado's population has created congestion on I-70 for up to 10 hours a day. In 2035, it's predicted that congestion will grow by 35%.
The Central 70 Project creates several construction challenges including building next to a school and establised neighborhood, removing the viaduct while maintaining traffic flow, rebuilding a highway with 200,000 vehicles a day, maintaining access to 1,200 businesses during construction and relocating three separate railroads. The Project will be designed to handle a 100 year storm event with a robust drainage system that addresses water that falls directly into the lowered highway and runoff from surface streets. There will be a series of 6 foot high pipes diverting water to eight detention ponds and ultimately to the South Platte River.
To keep traffic moving, construction is to be completed by 2022 and three lanes will be open in each direction on I-70 during rush hours. There will be phasing ramp and interchange closures to reduce traveler impacts and programs/incentives to encourage car pooling and transit use. Current construction activities include utility relocations, excavation for the lowered section of highway, reconstruction of the I-70/Brighton Interchange and construction of the new I-270 flyover adjacent to the existing structure.
CDOT is doubling down on safety by introducing a new strategy to improve safety on the roads called Whole System, Whole Safety. The new program is a systematic, statewide approach to safety that combines the benefits of CDOT programs addressing human factors, physical assets and organizational culture to fully integrate safety in everything that CDOT does. The goal is reduce the rate and severity of crashes and improving safety conditions for those traveling via all transportation modes in Colorado.
In the Globeville, Elyria and Swansea communities, 76% of the residents earn less than $35,000 per year and the unemployment rate is ten times greater than the city of Denver (37% unemployed). The Central 70 Project has a goal of employing 20% of their workforce from those communities. As of February 2019, 21% of the craft workforce is from the local community and 88% of eligible homes in the area are participating in the Central 70 home improvement program. CDOT is also making many improvements to the Swansea Elementary School, donating $100,00 for access to fresh food and using clean, low-emitting construction equipment. For more information go to c70.codot.gov.
